When the Unthinkable Happens to an Assistant Principal

You never know what path your life will take. You plan for that perfect life, but we all know nothing is perfect. Missy’s life was going pretty much the way she mapped it out. Her personal life was what she had envisioned. She had a loving husband, handsome children, fluffy cats, a dog and parents that continued to pray for her. Missy’s career seemed to be going the way she anticipated. She had interviewed more than a dozen times for her dream job. She was right on track to get the position she had gone to school for. She had completed all the course work for her doctorate. The only thing she didn’t plan on was accepting a position at an inner city school. She grew up in an urban city so there couldn’t be much of a difference, so she thought. Most people said, “Don’t take a job at “THAT SCHOOL!” She thought “THAT SCHOOL” would be a great place to start her career as an ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL. Missy thought after all, children are children. They all have the same desire to learn and they all come to school to get the most life has to offer.

What graduate school didn’t teach her was at “this inner city school,” the children were hell on wheels! There was an abundance of discipline problems, complaints from new teachers and parents who wanted the best for their children. The only problem was, they didn’t always know how to work with administration to get the best for them.

The past four years of being an Assistant Principal brought Missy a lot of highs and lows. As you take this journey, as an Assistant Principal, you will have several highs, but sometimes you can have some tremendous lows! Take time to learn as you go, but as you take this realistic-fictional journey, don’t take anything for granted. Most importantly, make sure you don’t miss important warning signs that may be used against you in the process….